Earlier this year, I wrote about my experiences attending the Age and Disability: Beyond Stereotypes to Inclusion Workshop in AGS News. Sponsored by AARP and hosted by the Forum on Aging, Disability, and Independence, the workshop brought together panelists from a range of fields to discuss ways to disrupt stereotypes in everyday life, particularly when it comes to (you guessed it) age and disability. A summary of the workshop proceedings is now available for free at nationalacademies.org/BeyondStereotypes, and I think it’s a useful reminder of how important it is to expand our thinking beyond healthcare as we seek to disrupt and reframe aging.
In revisiting the workshop thanks to this summary, I know I was struck by the similarities we share (and need to continue finding) with our colleagues outside health care—colleagues in fields like fashion, for example. Like us, designers committed to inclusion still struggle with stereotypes that (at best) try to hide age and (at worst) treat it as a problem for which you sacrifice beauty in favor of utility. The passion and commitment these designers bring to their work—which remains under-funded and in short supply (sound familiar?)—is a reminder that we need to work together to help the whole of society see aging differently.
Since chairing the workshop, I’ve been inspired by the ways Parsons School of Design is nourishing its students to think about design differently. I stumbled upon the fruits of that approach at the Museum of Modern Art’s Is Fashion Modern exhibit, which featured a design from Lucy Jones (a Parsons School of Design graduate), who was a featured panelist at the workshop. Visit LucyJonesDesign.com to learn more about her work.
And even more recently, I was all the more excited to see work from Parsons students I got to speak with at the workshop featured in the New York Times: “The Hospital Gown Gets a Modest Redesign.